"Arunachal to get support for agricultural growth"

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday offered the central government's full support for fast growth in all areas of agriculture and food processing in Arunachal Pradesh.

He made the offer while laying the foundation stone of the state's first agriculture college and inaugurated a 'krishi mela' at Pasighat on Tuesday.

Pawar appreciated the recent initiatives taken by the State Government towards fast growth of agriculture, rice procurement, new plantations, export of fruits, etc. He expressed the hope that the state will be able to exploit its vast potential in horticulture and floriculture.

Giving the details of the support given by Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Ministries to the State, Pawar said : "This year we have allocated more than 15 Cr for NFSM, 32 Cr for RKVY and 48 Cr for Horticulture Mission. I am extremely liberal while supporting this state and has told my officers that if state is ready to absorb more funds, we should readily provide the same. We also appreciated that some areas of Arunachal Pradesh can produce oil palm and hence this year we included Arunachal Pradesh also under oil palm development scheme."

"I am also of the considered opinion that Arunachal has tremendous potential in bamboo development. The state has not yet used its fullest capacity to harness the benefit from the national bamboo mission. The state also needs to work on a mission mode on other plantation crops like rubber etc," he said.